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A team of experts have agreed the humble French baguette will gain Unesco recognition and should be protected.
The simple French bread – made of wheat, flour, salt and yeast – is a staple of French cuisine.
Experts gathered for a conference in Morocco where the baguette was added to the UN’s list of intangible cultural heritage.
In celebration, the French government plans to create an artisanal baguette day, called the Open Bakehouse Day, to connect French people with their heritage.
For the UN’s cultural agency’s chief Audrey Azoulay, the decision honours more than just bread: it recognises the ‘savoir-faire of artisanal bakers’ and ‘a daily ritual’.
But it comes amid worrying times for bakeries in France after the country’s culture ministry warned of a ‘continuous decline’ in the number of traditional bakeries, with some 400 closing every year over the past half a century.
But despite the decline, France’s 67 million residents remain voracious consumers of the bread.
France’s ‘Bread Observatory’ says the French munch through 320 baguettes of one form or another every second, an average of half a baguette a person a day.
The French baguette has been given Unesco recognition to the delight of French bakers (Picture: Unesco)
The French baguette is known across the world for being quintessentially French (Picture: AP)
It joins kimchi, Jamaican reggae, yoga and around 600 other traditions on the list (Picture: Unesco)
But it is not the quantity of baguettes on sale which is the problem, but the quality.
Paris resident Marine Fourchier said: ‘It’s very easy to get a bad baguette in France. It’s the traditional baguette from the traditional bakery that’s in danger. It’s about quality not quantity.’
Bakers across France are unsurprised by the announcement.
Asma Farhat, baker at Julien’s Bakery near Paris’s Champs-Elysee Avenue, said: ‘Of course, it should be on the list because the baguette symbolises the world. It’s universal.
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‘If there’s no baguette, you cant have a proper meal. In the morning you can toast it, for lunch it’s a sandwich, and then it accompanies dinner.’
Although the baguette is known to be quintessentially French, it is said to have been invented by Vienna-born baker August Zang, in 1839.
The baguette joins kimchi, Jamaican reggae, yoga and around 600 other traditions from more than 130 countries on the list.
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In celebration, the French government plans to create an artisanal baguette day.
